Nowadays, motor vehicles generally make contact with the ground via vehicle wheels. These wheels consist of a wheel rim and of a tire mounted on the wheel rim.
In general, the motive power of the vehicle is transmitted to the ground exclusively via the wheels. The wheels and the tires and hence also the wheel rims are therefore subjected to large forces.
In order to achieve secure seating of the tire on the wheel rim, wheel rims have a wheel rim flange on the inner flank oriented toward the vehicle and a wheel rim flank on the outer flank oriented away from the vehicle, said wheel rim flanges being intended to prevent the tire from slipping sideways off the wheel rim.
In the prior art, configurations of both the outer wheel rim flange and of the inner wheel rim flange which project outward in a radial direction in order to prevent the tire from slipping off sideways are disclosed. DE 195 33 612 A1 discloses this design.
However, the disadvantage here is that radial deflection of the tire is not effectively prevented by this known design, this being attributable to the radial stiffness of the wheel.